[Thursday] WLW History

Thu Jan 31 23:33:18 MST 2019

In 1962,I was 16 and I bought a large Truetone D-1144 console radio at The Salvation Army thrift store in Providence (Pitman St). I did a lot of broadcast band DXing on that radio. I got a stack of 3 x 5 cards and had one for each frequency from 540 to 1600 Kc (10 Kc intervals). On each card, I put all the stations received and the date. In the 1960's there were a lot of clear channel stations and I probably got them all - at least during the Winter. I still have those file cards somewhere in my basement, but the Truetone is long gone. I made an external BFO for this radio and worked the 80 meter Novice band (WN1AHM).

Dave Crowell,  KA1EDP

      From: fred tanner via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org>
 To: Bob Smith <smirobert5 at aol.com> 
Cc: Terry Gmail via Thursday <Thursday at newsm.org>
 Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2019 12:28 PM
 Subject: Re: [Thursday] WLW History

I don't know who might receive this email.  The stories told above remind me, so I must tell mine.  As a little kid in 1954 I used to listen to DX on my Hallicrafters S-38C.  I remember very well listening to KIEV AM Glendale CA one night (yes, from my bed on Tillinghast Rd.)  I think it was a 250 watt station.  I used a White's radio directory to look for and check off stations as I heard them.  At the time, I wrote to the FCC Engineer in charge to tell him about his powerful signal,  but don't recall hearing back from him.
fred
On Thu, Jan 31, 2019 at 3:58 PM Bob Smith via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org> wrote:

Thanks Chris,Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Prata <chrisprata at live.com>
To: smirobert5 at aol.com <smirobert5 at aol.com>
Sent: Thu, Jan 31, 2019 2:39 pm
Subject: Re: [Thursday] WLW History

hi bob,
great stuff!  I think this only went to me not the ,list so u may want to resend  there...
regards,chris
From: smirobert5 at aol.com <smirobert5 at aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2019 2:36 PM
To: chrisprata at live.com
Subject: Re: [Thursday] WLW History Hi Guys:
I worked for WLW-C,the Columbus, Ohio TV station owned by Crosley. The senior staff members who had worked in Cincinnati had fond memories of Crosley. They said he was a generous employer. I joined the company just after it was sold to a group owner whose interest was primarily financial. The "family" character of the company was replaced by a corporate model.
I have one other memory, this one of the radio station. It offered a program of classical music called "Music Till Dawn" that ran from midnight till 7 am. I was in grad school at the time, and I wrote many a term paper with "Music Till Dawn" in the background. An academic, Larry Lichty, who also a friend, wrote a history of WLW called "The Nation's Station."
And, as a footnote, my father owned and drove a Crosley, one of the cars Crosley manufactured in his short-lived entry in the automobile business. It fun to drive, but noisy.
Bob

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Prata via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org>
To: NEWSM Thursday Group <thursday at newsm.org>
Sent: Thu, Jan 31, 2019 1:57 pm
Subject: Re: [Thursday] WLW History

This IS cool...
When on the road at night, I often listen to super station "Zoomer radio" 740 AM in Toronto, one of "the few remaining clear channel stations in North America". Works for me! 
As to this part: "some lights would not turn off until WLW engineers helped rewire houses. Gutters rattled loose from buildings. A neon hotel sign near the transmitter never went dark. Farmers reported hearing WLW through their barbed-wire fences."
I'd like to know how the barbed wire fences made that audio...
Night distant radio is just so cool... when I was a boy late at night in bed I'd listen to my GE tube clock radio and often get Nashville country stations...
Thanks Randy for sharing.
Chris

From: Thursday <thursday-bounces at newsm.org> on behalf of Brown Beezer via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2019 1:50 PM
To: pleaseleaveamessage4me at gmail.com; Thursday at newsm.org
Subject: Re: [Thursday] WLW History WLW, "The Nation's Super-Station"....an interesting history indeed.....
Thanks Randy !

-----Original Message-----
From: Randall Snow via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org>
To: Thursday Group <Thursday at newsm.org>
Sent: Thu, Jan 31, 2019 1:42 pm
Subject: [Thursday] WLW History

Guys,
As discussed in our small group today, there was a fascinating excerpt from a magazine that had been sitting on a table in the Mayes building for a while that I had read.  It was about the growth of the radio station WLW from a home hobby-type endeavor to the most powerful transmitter in the country.  We have one of the tubes from this transmitter in the wireless building, sitting there with very little mention of its history.  Here is a quick link to an article I found, although it's not the one I had read before, nor have I had the time to go through this one.  There are also YouTube video tours of the facility that still contains a great deal of the equipment built for this 500kW station.  This is just one example of the great deal of history we have artifacts of, but no good presentation or explanation for visitors to learn from or appreciate. This story also ties into all of our Crosley radios as well.  

-- 
Randy Snow
Snow Findings Company
Lovements.com
New England Wireless and Steam Museum

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